League of Ireland clubs awarded more than €800k by UEFA

League of Ireland clubs were awarded €825,062 in solidarity payments by UEFA in 2016/17 under a programme designed to promote youth development across the continent.

Irish League clubs were awarded the minimum figure of €403,351 under the scheme that distributes more money to countries with larger TV markets.

The money is intended to be ring-fenced for youth development programmes and community schemes only and not to increase the first-team budget.

Only clubs that haven't participated in that year's Champions League or Europa League group stages are entitled to draw on the money, meaning Dundalk are excluded.

The money is distributed to the national associations, in the League of Ireland's case the FAI, who can decide how the money is distributed.

UEFA says that 'in principle, the money should be shared equally between all top-division clubs,” however associations can assign different criteria in some instances.

A full schedule of the money distributed by UEFA, which totals €124.37 million, can be seen here.